Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte om kvelden, men vi sover godt. - The sea air makes us tired in the evening, but we sleep well.

In Norwegian you often use the definite form for things that are understood in general, even if you don’t mean one specific instance. So sjøluften gjør oss trøtte is like English the sea air makes us tired, but it really means sea air in general.

Grammatically:

Indefinite singular: (en/ei) sjøluft
Definite singular: sjøluften (or sjølufta, see below)

What does gjør oss trøtte literally mean, and why this structure?

gjøre means to do/make, and the pattern gjøre + object + adjective means to make someone/something + adjective.

So:

Sjøluften = the sea air (subject)
gjør = makes (verb)
oss = us (object)
trøtte = tired (adjective, plural)

Literally: “The sea air makes us tired.”

This is a very common pattern:

Det gjør meg glad. = That makes me happy.
Kaffen gjør henne våken. = Coffee makes her awake.

You cannot say something like gjør oss å være trøtte – you use the adjective directly after the object.

Why is it trøtte and not trøtt?

Adjectives in Norwegian agree with number (singular/plural) and with definiteness.

trøtt = tired (base form, used with singular indefinite)
- en trøtt mann = a tired man
trøtte = tired (plural, and also definite form)
- vi er trøtte = we are tired
- to trøtte menn = two tired men

Since oss = us (plural), you need the plural form of the adjective:

gjør oss trøtte = makes us tired

Compare:

Jeg er trøtt. = I am tired.
Vi er trøtte. = We are tired.
Luften gjør meg trøtt. = The air makes me tired.
Luften gjør oss trøtte. = The air makes us tired.

What does om kvelden mean exactly, and why om?

om kvelden means in the evening / at night (in the evenings) in a general or habitual sense.

om
- a time word often means during / in (that part of the day) when talking about repeated or typical situations:
  - om morgenen = in the morning(s)
  - om natten = at night / during the night

kvelden is the definite singular of kveld (evening), but here it’s not one specific evening. Norwegian often uses definite singular to talk about a general, typical part of the day:

om kvelden = in the evenings (generally, as a habit)

Rough equivalents:

om kvelden ≈ in the evening / in the evenings (as a rule)
i kveld = this evening / tonight (specific evening)

Can I say på kvelden instead of om kvelden?

Yes, på kvelden is also used and is common in speech. In many contexts, om kvelden and på kvelden will mean almost the same: in the evening.

Roughly:

om kvelden – a bit more “textbook/neutral”; strongly habitual/generic.
på kvelden – very common in everyday speech; often also habitual, but sometimes feels closer to “in the evening (when it is evening)”.

In your sentence both are acceptable:

Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte om kvelden.
Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte på kvelden.

Why is there a comma before men?

Men means but, and here it connects two main clauses:

Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte om kvelden
vi sover godt

In Norwegian, when men joins two independent main clauses, you normally put a comma before it:

…, men …

So:

Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte om kvelden, men vi sover godt.

This is similar to English:
The sea air makes us tired in the evening, but we sleep well.

Why is it oss in the first part and vi in the second part?

Vi and oss are two forms of the same pronoun:

vi = we (subject form, like English we)
oss = us (object form, like English us)

In the first clause:

Sjøluften = subject
gjør = verb
oss = object
So you must use the object form oss.

In the second clause:

vi = subject of sover
There is no object there, so you use the subject form vi.

Compare:

Vi sover godt. = We sleep well.
Luften gjør oss trøtte. = The air makes us tired.

What is the difference between sover godt and sover bra?

Both godt and bra can translate to well, but:

godt is the neuter form of god (good) used as an adverb = well / nicely / in a good way.
bra is an invariable adjective/adverb meaning good / fine / OK.

With sove (to sleep), sover godt is usually the most natural:

Vi sover godt. = We sleep well / we sleep soundly.
Vi sover bra. = We sleep fine / our sleep is OK (also possible, slightly different nuance).

So in your sentence, sover godt is the idiomatic choice.

Could I say Sjølufta instead of Sjøluften?

Yes, in Bokmål luft can be treated as either masculine or feminine:

Masculine pattern:
- en luft – luften
Feminine pattern:
- ei luft – lufta

So:

sjøluften = the sea air (masculine form)
sjølufta = the sea air (feminine form)

Both are grammatically correct in Bokmål. Which one people use depends on personal preference and dialect. Many text books and formal texts use the -en ending, as in your sentence.

How does the word order work in this sentence?

Norwegian main clauses normally follow V2 word order: the finite verb is in second position.

1st clause: Sjøluften gjør oss trøtte om kvelden

1st element: Sjøluften (subject)
2nd element: gjør (verb)
The rest: oss trøtte om kvelden

2nd clause: men vi sover godt

men is just a conjunction (not counted in V2)
1st element in the clause: vi (subject)
2nd element: sover (verb)
The rest: godt

If you move the time expression to the front, the verb still stays in second place:

Om kvelden gjør sjøluften oss trøtte, men vi sover godt.
- Om kvelden = 1st element
- gjør = 2nd (the verb)
- sjøluften oss trøtte = the rest

Can I say Sjøluften gjør at vi blir trøtte instead of gjør oss trøtte?

You can say it, and it is grammatically correct:

Sjøluften gjør at vi blir trøtte.
= The sea air makes it so that we become tired.

However, gjør oss trøtte is:

shorter
more natural
the standard pattern with gjøre
- object + adjective

If you want a closer “cause” expression, another natural option is:

Sjøluften får oss til å bli trøtte.
(literally: gets us to become tired / causes us to become tired),

but in everyday language gjør oss trøtte is usually preferred here.

How do you pronounce sjøluften?

Approximate pronunciation in standard Eastern Norwegian:

sjøluften ≈ /ʂjøː-lʉf-tən/

In English-friendly terms:

sj – like sh but pronounced a bit further back in the mouth.
ø – like German ö, or somewhat like the vowel in British bird (but with rounded lips).
luft – roughly like looft with a short u (between oo in book and u in put).
Final -en – often a short, reduced -ən sound.

So it’s roughly: “shøø-looft-ən”, with the main stress on sjø-.